Claims
- 1. An endoscopic imaging system, including an optical system having an optical axis, said optical system comprising an objective and a relay system of elements, said relay system forming an image, each of said elements having an input surface and an output surface wherein at least one of said surfaces has a non-zero curvature, said elements chosen and arranged such that the sum of absolute values of all non-zero surface curvatures results in a value less than approximately 1.5/mm when the length of said optical system is standardized to 100 mm.
- 2. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, said image formed by said relay having an axial color aberration of less than about 0.8 waves.
- 3. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, said image formed by said relay having an axial color aberration of less than about 0.35 waves.
- 4. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, said image formed by said relay having an axial color aberration of less than about 0.21 waves.
- 5. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, further comprising one negative element which provides color correction for the entire optical system.
- 6. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, further comprising a prism located on the object-side of said objective and not included in said length of said optical system.
- 7. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, further comprising a field expander located on the object-side of said objective and not included in said length of said optical system.
- 8. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, further comprising an additional relay system following said optical system.
- 9. The endoscopic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the relationship between said sum of absolute values of all surface curvatures and said optical system length is such that said sum times said length is less than about 151.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/351,481, filed Dec. 6, 1994, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,754.
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
351481 |
Dec 1994 |
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